I'm pretty much certain it cost them a franchise last time around.

This.

Some people really need to get over the fact that we've not won the Championship. We've done what was required of us and have been justly rewarded.

Cry all you want haters, these were the rules and we cut our cloth accordingly.

It is nothing to do with hating Widnes. Widnes are a proper RL club with a history, I have no problems with them being in SL. However, nobody has responded to my comment. What does a bloke in a suit, stood behind a podium got to do with sport? Widnes should have had their moment of glory after 80 minutes of rugby. Not after a 5 minute Sky Sports advertisement break.

It wasn't the only criteria though, we all knew that, yes in an ideal world we'd have P&R but we don't and i genuinely feel for them but they need to go back look at themselves ask the RFL what made their bid weaker than Widnes' bid and rectify it for the next time round.

I'm that up set I'm going to copy and paste lyrics to a song made famous by Bryn (it means hill in welsh) off Gavin and Stacey.

Nice one.

Nat , it will be interesting how they put a celebratatory positive spin when they announce who is coming down , today is the wedding with lots of slaps on backs , will next time be thw ' Wake ' , for Wakey ?

That will take some ' spin ' , how much will that parachute payment be I wonder ?

Why are people complaining now that promotion should be decided based upon on-field performance. The decision to make the decision based on wider factors (including on-field performance) was taken several years ago and any club which has spent the last 3 years investing solely in it's first team should only blame themselves.

Widnes have invested heavily in their youth systems and in their community programmes, in addition to having great facilities, good attendances and sound finances. They spent the last 3 years specifically addressing the areas of the bid that they failed on last time (i.e. financial stability and youth structure). As a result we now have a vibrant and strong Widnes club which is better for the whole game of rugby league. It was for this very reason that franchising was introduced and therefore it is clearly serving its purpose.

Clubs aspiring to super league have 2 choices - they can accept the franchising criteria and do their best to meet it as fully as possible, or they can continue to prioritise only certain sections of the criteria and then moan that these sections should be given more priority if rugby league is to be considered a "proper sport". I know which I'd prefer my club to do.

Also regarding the Northern Rail Cup - to those who say this is a mickey mouse competition that nobody cares about, you are clearly missing something. This competition forms a key part of the on-field criteria given that winners fulfill this criteria in full and therefore only stupid or ignorant people would consider it to be "mickey mouse" for any aspiring club.

You are Ian Millward and I claim my £5.

Nice ignorance there my friend. The song was made famous by Labi Siffre and inspired by a TV documentary Siffre viewed in 1985 in which a white soldier was seen shooting at black children. Apalled, he penned the song as an anti-Apartheid anthem, advising Africans to stand tall in the face of adversity.

All this , and then still not go anywhere , is the simple reality of it

And I thought James Corden wrote it?

Are you suggesting Halifax been denied a franchise is the same as interracial murder?

absolutely. and it was the clubs collectively who chose this route for the game...too many fans forget that. if you don't meet the criteria, or otehrs better meet the criteria, it is the fault of the club, not the RFL

So Halifax basically need to find someone willing to pump millions of pounds of their own money into the club if they want to get into Super League.